Chapter 344: Dog Bites Dog

During work hours, the quiet café had few customers, only the melodious piano music floating back and forth. At a booth near the window, Mack looked hopefully at the Jewish man sitting across from him.

"Martin, I've done as you said!" Mack appeared a bit excited, "Now it's time for you to fulfill your promise. You promised to introduce me to William Morris and give me at least two secondary actors as co-managed clients."

Across from him, Martin Miller held a cup of coffee, savoring it leisurely, seemingly not having heard Mack's words.

Mack curled his finger, gently tapping the table, and spoke again, "I'm now contract-free with CAA, ready to smoothly join William Morris."

"No contract?" Martin Miller put down his coffee cup, "To be precise, you were terminated by CAA, right?"

"Yes." Mack didn't deny it but added, "I was terminated by CAA because I was helping you."

"No, no, that's not right..." raising his right index finger, Martin Miller shook it continuously, "Please understand, everything you did was for yourself."

What a joke, he had only wanted to poach Murphy Stanton but hadn't done anything too specific. Those behind-the-scenes maneuvers, hiring private detectives, those were all Mack's ideas, not much to do with him.

Martin Miller wanted to completely dissociate himself from this.

From Natalie Portman's incident, he realized one thing, Murphy Stanton was not easy to deal with. If one only sees him as a mere director, those who attempt anything against him often end up unlucky.

Such a person, without a sure win, it's better not to provoke at all.

Through many incidents, Martin Miller had seen enough.

The excitement on Mack's face gradually disappeared, "Then... what about our... agreement?"

"Agreement?" Martin Miller looked puzzled, "Did we have an agreement?"

"You..." Mack stood up abruptly, "You said you'd introduce me to William Morris."

"Oh, that." Taking a sip of coffee, Martin Miller said indifferently, "I'll call the HR department, you can go for an interview anytime."

Saying this, he even took out his phone, seemingly ready to make the call.

"And then?" Mack wasn't stupid, slowly seeing that things weren't as he imagined, "What position will I get?"

"I said I'd introduce you to William Morris." Martin Miller made an even more puzzled expression, "I'm about to call the HR department, what more do you want?"

Mack stared at Martin Miller, "What about the resources you promised me?"

Martin Miller seemed to know nothing, "What resources? I don't remember that."

He shook his head, "One shouldn't be too greedy. Any outstanding entertainment agent, including myself, started from the mailroom."

By this point, if Mack still didn't understand that the other party had no intention of helping him, then all his years were truly lived in vain.

"You despicable, shameless bastard!" He almost pointed directly at the other's forehead.

"Don't be childish, what do you think entertainment agents are?" Martin Miller didn't mind saying so, "Don't you know?"

A super thick skin is just an entry ticket to the entertainment agency industry.

Standing in the booth, Mack was furious, especially after the humiliation he suffered at CAA and seeing his last hope dashed. His blood seemed to rush to his head, his pale face turning bright red, as if it could bleed at any moment.

Once, Mack had ambitious dreams of becoming the top agent in the industry, like Michael Ovitz before him. He had always believed he had the capability, hence his determination to climb up.

But Martin Miller's words effectively dashed his last hopes. Even if a small entertainment agency would accept him, without significant clients, he'd have to start from zero. How long would it take to return to his previous status at CAA?

Though just one among many ordinary agents at CAA, he had been involved in huge projects like "Kingdom of Heaven"...

Regret, anger, discontent, jealousy... At that moment, all the negative emotions surged through Mack's heart.

"You f***ing Jewish bastard!" Controlled by negative emotions, people often lose their reason, and Mack finally exploded, "You bunch of Jewish devils are just a curse! Why didn't you all just die off? You're the source of chaos and deceit in Hollywood, all of you should go to hell to see Satan."

Like all other Jewish individuals in the industry, hearing Mack's words, Martin Miller immediately stood up. But he had neither the time to do something nor the chance to speak, as a cup of aromatic coffee was thrown directly into his face.

The experience of getting a coffee facial was not pleasant; even though the temperature wasn't high, some of the droplets splashed into his eyes. Martin Miller immediately covered his face, taking quite a while to open his eyes again. By the time he did, Mack had vanished without a trace.

"FU@2k!"

Martin Miller cursed loudly, shouting, "Waiter! Waiter!"

Soon, a waiter brought over a towel, and after a quick wipe down, Martin Miller immediately pulled out his phone and dialed the police.

How could he let this incident slide?

After leaving CAA, Murphy quickly forgot about Mack until three days later, when Bill Roscius mentioned that Mack had been summoned by the Los Angeles police on suspicion of assault, apparently in some trouble.

"The victim is someone you might know."

Spinning in his chair, Robert Downey Jr. seemed to enjoy it while speaking to Murphy, "He's also an acquaintance of yours."

Murphy, busy sketching the opening scene for "Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire," didn't look up as he asked, "I know a lot of people in Hollywood, who is it?"

"It's Martin Miller from William Morris, the guy who once tried to poach you," picking up a graphite pencil, Robert Downey Jr. looked at it before putting it back in the holder, continuing, "A typical case of dog biting dog."

"Let them bite..." Murphy replaced an old drawing board with a new one, began sketching the Stark family crest, and added, "Let them bite each other to death, Hollywood could use some explosive news right now."

Robert Downey Jr. picked up the previous sketch, looked at it, and remarked, "Hollywood's most promising young director, abandoning high-art cinema to shoot a TV series adapted from a fantasy novel, isn't that big news?"

He looked up at Murphy, asking, "Are you really going to shoot a TV series?"

"What's the big deal?" Murphy shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm not the only film director who has moved to TV series, and I'm just guest-directing. If the first season does well and they decide to continue, they'll definitely change directors."

A TV series could extend over many seasons; he couldn't afford to spend too much energy on this.

"Don't you think..." Robert Downey Jr. gestured aimlessly, "this might damage a film director's style?"

"Not at all!" Murphy was sure of this, "Who knows, this series might even win me more supporters."

He then asked, "How did your audition go?"

Robert Downey Jr. shook his head, "They're just interested for now, the project is far from starting. It all depends on what happens later."

"Next week, bring Gale," he invited, "Let's go out to sea, do some shark fishing."

Murphy thought for a moment, "I probably won't have time. Next week, I need to attend the DVD release promotions for 'Gone Girl.' There are two stops in Los Angeles; I can't miss them."

As time passed, the global attendance and number of shoots for "Gone Girl" visibly decreased. After the global box office reached $465.2 million, the growth slowed down significantly due to the film's theme and premise, which prevented it from being introduced in many countries and regions.

Such a theme is sensitive in many countries, and openly screening it is practically impossible.

Murphy and 20th Century Fox were well aware that "Gone Girl" was unlikely to break the $500 million global box office milestone, especially in North America, where it had almost finished its run in mainstream commercial cinemas, though a few cinemas in major cities still showed it.

Entering the new century, Hollywood's theatrical windows have been growing increasingly shorter, with most movies launching on DVD shortly after their brief theatrical runs, much like before. This was considered the golden era for DVDs.

Selling DVDs also necessitated promotion, the best method being to include behind-the-scenes footage and so-called director's cuts, offering fresh content to attract film buffs.

"Gone Girl" DVDs were no exception, available in $19.99 standard and $29.99 deluxe editions, both incorporating new scenes, particularly as the DVD runtime exceeded three hours.

This strategy was necessary to get viewers, who had recently seen the movie, to open their wallets.

This is one of Hollywood's most commonly used and effective strategies.

In the first week of DVD sales, "Gone Girl" performed quite well, selling over $45 million, and in the following week, it added nearly $20 million more. Describing the film's market performance as a blowout sale wasn't an exaggeration at all.

Meanwhile, Murphy had completed a lot of work, such as script revisions, storyboard drawings, and shot division for "Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire," preparing with 20th Century Fox to officially launch the series.

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